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THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  KANSAS  NEWS-BULLETIN 

VOL.  XVII. LAWRENCE.  KANSAS.  JANUARY  IS,  1917.  NO.  10. 


i- 


HATTIE  ELIZABETH  LEWIS  MEMORIAL 
ESSAYS  IN  APPLIED  CHRISTIANITY 


HOW  CHRIST  WOULD  ORGANIZE  THE 
-^  WORLD 


RALPH  W./ NELSON 


■R  '\ 


Entered  October  17,  1904,  at  Lawrence,  Kansas,  as  second  class  matter,  under 
act  of  Congress,  July  16,  1894. 


HATTIE  ELIZABETH  LEWIS  MEMORIAL 

ESSAYS  IN  APPLIED  CHRISTIANITY 


HOW  CHRIST  WOULD  ORGANIZE  THE 
WORLD 

By  RALPH  W.  NELSON,  of  Lawrence  Kansas 

First  Prise,  1916 


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PUBLISHED  BY  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  KANSAS 


(KPAKTMENT    OF   JOURN\LI3l 

UNIVERSITr    OF    KAX3AS 

LAWRENCE 

1917 


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PREFATORY  NOTE 
The  Hattie  Elizabeth  Lewis  Memorial 

This  Memorial  was  established  in  the  University  of  Kansas  in 
1911,  in  memory  of  Hattie  Elizabeth  Lewis,  a  former  student  of 
the  University.  It  was  founded  by  Professor  George  Edward 
Patrick,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  and  is  maintained  out  of  funds  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  University  a  few  months 
before  Professor  Patrick's  death,  which  occurred  March  22,  1916. 
Professor  Patrick  was  a  member  of  the  faculty  of  the  University 
of  Kansas  from  1874  to  1883.  He  and  Miss  Lewis  were  married 
in  1883.     Mrs.  Patrick  died  in  1909. 

The  Memorial  takes  the  form  of  an  annual  competition  in  essay 
writing,  open  to  all  students  of  the  University  of  Kansas.  The 
general  theme  of  the  essays  submitted  in  this  competition  is  "The 
Application  of  the  Teachings  of  Jesus  to  the  Practical  Affairs  and 
Relations  of  I-ife,  Individual,  Social,  Industrial,  Commercial,  or 
Political;"  but  each  essay  must  deal  with  a  single  definite  subject, 
or  a  single  phase  of  life.  In  the  competition  for  the  year  1915-16, 
as  also  in  that  for  1914-15,  the  University  committee  in  charge  of 
the  competition  itself  prescribed  the  particular  phase  of  the  gen- 
eral theme  to  which  contestants  v.ere  to  be  confined:  "The  Appli- 
cation of  the  Teachings  of  Jesus  to  the  Relations  of  States 
(Nations) ".  Each  essay  is  required  to  be  not  less  than  5,000  nor 
more  than  10,000  words  in  length. 


M572533 


HOW  CHRIST  WOULD  ORGANIZE  THE 
WORLD 

BY 

Ralph  W.  Nelson 


CONTENTS 

I.  Introduction : 

1.  World  organization  an  important  part  of  social  prob- 
lem   ® 

2.  Nations  merely  groups  of  men 9 

a.  Philosophy  of  "power"  a  negative  doctrine..  9 
6.    National  sovereignty  cannot  be  greater  than 

people  who  create  it 10 

II.  Christ's  Emphasis  of  Humanity. 

1.  Individual 10 

2.  Social 11 

a.  His  recognition  of  social  groups,  from  fam- 
ily to  nation 11 

h.  Men  have  one  Divine  Father,  and  are  there- 
fore brothers H 

3.  Jesus  not  a  revolutionist 12 

4.  A  new  ideal  based  on  rights  of  man 12 

III.  Democracy,  Christ's  Ideal  of  Social  Organization. 

1.  Its  gradual  development  13 

2.  Not  a  static,  but  an  evolutionary  ideal  13 

3.  A  practical  demonstration  of  its  relative  success  14 

a.    Germany,  most  successful  of  bureaucracies..  14 

h.    Iler  ambitious  national  philosophy 14 

c.  Unequaled  eflficiency 14 

d.  Her  failure 15 

4.  Democracy  the  leading  principle  in  modern  govern- 
ment   1" 

5.  Aggressive  mihtarism  inconsistent  with  character  of 
democracy 1" 

IV.  " The  Field  is  the  World. " 

1 .  Democracy  has  by  no  means  yet  reached  its  goal  17 

2.  Eminently   consistent  with  world  organization  17 

3.  The  European  war  and  the  responsibility  of  autocrats  17 

4.  European  war  not  a  clash  of  merely  national  ideals..  18 

5.  Fundamental  ideals  at  issue,  democracy   and   bu- 
reaucracy    1^ 


V.  Democracy,  an  Influential  Factoi-  in  World  Politics. 

1.  Democratic  nations  as  peaceful  neighbors 19 

2.  Nations  have  grown  larger,  but  autocrats  less  success- 
ful  ' 19 

3.  Revolutions  m  New  and  Old  Worlds 20 

4.  Democracy,  the  strength  of  the  British  Empire 20 

5.  Self-governing  dominions  of  the  British  Empire  a 
beginning  of  world  organization 20 

6.  Nothing  but  harmony  anticipated  among  democratic 
nations 20 

7.  Autocracies  always  pointed  out  as  possible  foes  of 
United  States 21 

8.  Growth  of  sentiment  against  war 21 

9.  Broadening  of  patriotism 22 

10.  Autocracy,  the  basic  cause  of  war.  should  be  elimi- 
nated      22 

11.  Democracy  must  eliminate  autocrats  by  methods 
consistent  with  its  character 22 

VI.  Education,  the  Means. 

1.  Education  the  only  agency  for  permanent  social 
uplift 23 

2.  Jesus  the  greatest  Teacher 23 

a.  The  educational  preparation  of  the  Jews 23 

b.  Jesus  sought  to  save  men  merely  by  teaching 
them 24 

3.  A  psychological  prerequisite  of  all  social  organization  24 

4.  The  civilized  world  one  great  comnmnity 24 

5.  Men  have  learned  to  think  in  world  terms 25 

a.  Especially  in  democratic  nations 25 

b.  No  hatred  between  plain  people  of  European 
nations 25 

6.  World  organization  merely  an  educational  problem..     25 

7.  Co-operation  in  world  education,  the  only  consistent 
plan  of  defensive  preparedness  for  democratic  nations     26 

8.  Culmination  of  European  ci-isis  an  unequaled  oppor- 
tunity for  United  States  to  take  initiative  in  forma- 
tion of  League  of  Nations  to  Enforce  Peace 27 

9.  "America  first  in  world  service!" 28 

10.  The  beginning  of  ultimate  world  democracy 28 


HOW  CHRIST  WOULD  ORGANIZE  THE 
WORLD 

I. 

World  organization  is  simply  a  problem  of  humanity.  It  is  part 
only,  but  an  important  part,  of  the  social  problem,  which  a  recent 
writer^  has  said  to  be  "  the  problem  of  the  relations  of  men  to  one 
another".  To  urge  the  necessity  of  an  orderly  method  of  adjust- 
ing international  differences  and  regulating  international  relation- 
ships is  not  to  deny  the  existence  of  such  questions  as  "the  distri- 
bution of  wealth",  "labor",  or  "control  of  heredity",  which  are 
only  a  few  of  the  perplexing  problems  that  constitute  various 
phases  of  the  all-inclusive  problem  of  human  relations.  It  is  of 
the  utmost  importance  in  the  discussion  of  any  part  of  the  social 
problem,  to  keep  in  view  the  relation  of  that  part  to  all  other 
parts;  no  part  or  phase,  however  much  of  a  problem  it  may  be  in 
itself,  is  self-sufficient  or  an  end  in  itself.  World  organization, 
then,  is  not  to  be  considered  as  a  question  of  government  or 
politics  alone;  it  is  that  and  more.  It  is  a  problem  of  humanity 
and  human  relationships. 

He  who  would  organize  the  world  and  bring  the  dealings  of  nations 
with  one  another  under  rational  control,  must  bear  in  mind  from 
the  outset  that  nations  are  merely  groups  of  men.  Nations  may 
be  considered  as  artificial  persons  or  personified  entities  in  no  way 
subject  to  the  ethical  or  religious  principles  of  individuals' — an  idea 
which  the  philosophies  of  Machiavelli  and  Hegel  have  firmly 
established  in  European  thought — if  the  goal  to  be  attained  is 
national  greatness  and  world  dominion.  But  it  is  palpably  evident 
to  thinkers  who  have  once  recognized  the  need  of  world  organi- 
zation that  the  philosophy  of  power  as  the  greatest  good  attainable 
by  a  state  has  served  its  purpose  in  uniting  quarrelsome  commu- 
nities, and  that  in  a  cosmopolitan  age  it  is  a  perniciously  negative 
doctrine.^  Ultra-nationalism  negates  internationalism  just  as 
ultra-individualism  precludes  the  possibility  of  mutually  helpful 
social  intercourse. 

If  a  nation  or  national  sovereignty  is  not  to  be  thought  of  as  an 

1.  EUwood:    The  Social  Problem,  p.  3.  Santayana:    Gervian   Freedom,   in 
13.  The    Xew    Republic,    August    28. 

2.  Bemhardi:  Germany  and  the  Next  191.5. 
War,  p.  29. 


10  Essays  in  Applied  Christianity 

end  in  itself,  it  follows  that  even  national  sovereignty  is  a  respon- 
sible entity.  The  blind  patriotism  expressed  in  the  fine  phrase, 
"our  country,  right  or  wrong ",^  is  only  a  euphemistic  way  of 
making  nationality  superhuman  and  irresponsible,  all  of  which 
leads  to  the  irrational  conclusion  that  men  are  the  unquestioning 
puppets  and  slaves  to  an  artificial  system  of  their  own  creation. 
National  sovereignty  has  been  called  the  final  authority,  the  thing 
greater  than  the  law,  that  indeed  protects  the  law.^  This  is  so 
patent  an  error  in  the  light  of  recent  world  history,  so  destructive 
of  all  that  men  have  striven  for  centuries  to  gain,  that  it  would 
seem  unnecessary  to  refute  it.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  national 
sovereignty  is  not  the  final  authority,  for,  though  it  be  behind  the 
law  and  the  protector  of  the  law,  still,  behind  national  sovereign- 
ty is  its  creator,  humanity,  and  reason  cannot  countenance  a 
philosophy  that  enthrones  the  thing  created  and  makes  the  crea- 
tor its  slave.  Nations  and  national  sovereignty  are  only  means 
to  an  end.  The  end  is  humanity.  Throughout  the  wiles  of  in- 
ternational diplomacy  men  are  toying  with  men;  in  international 
wars  men  are  killing  men;  in  all  international  relations  men  are 
dealing  with  men. 

When  we  have  grasped  the  fact  that  the  problem  of  world  organ- 
ization is  a  problem  of  human  relations  not  different  in  kind,  but 
only  greater  in  extent  than  other  problems  of  social  regulation 
that  we  have,  comparatively  speaking,  succeeded  in  solving,  we 
are  in  a  position  to  make  practical  application  of  the  teachings  of 
Jesus. 

II. 

Christ  emphasized  humanity  individually  and  collectively.  It 
was  the  individual  who  was  to  receive  his  teaching  and  bear  the 
fruits  of  that  teaching."  It  was  the  individual  who  was  to  receive 
the  reward  of  obedience.^  It  was  the  individual  who  was  to  be 
held  responsible  for  disobedience.^  From  the  emphasis  placed 
upon  this  message  to  individuals  as  such,  by  an  essentially  scholas- 
tic theology,  there  has  arisen  a  general  understanding  that  Christ 

4.  Stopheu    Decatur:    Mackenzie's  C>.   Matthew  XIII.  23. 
Life  of  Stephen  Decatur,  oh.  XIV.  7.  John  VI,  37. 

5.  Kingaloy:  The  World's  Fundamen-  «•   Matthew  YII.   23. 
tal  Error,  in  The  Independent,  Jan- 
uary 31,  1916. 


How  Christ  Would  Organize  the  World  11 

preached  an  "individual  gospel";  but  this  belief  is  evidence  of  a 
failure  to  understand  the  second  half  of  his  teaching,  without 
which  the  first  half  will  be  of  no  avail. 

The  individual  is  responsible  for  receiving  individually,  and 
utilizing  socially,  a  teaching  that  is  social  from  beginning  to  end. 
That  teaching  is  intended  to  train  him  for  social  service,  for  life 
as  a  man  among  men.  He  is  responsible  if  he  does  not  obey,  but 
of  what  does  obedience  consist?  The  conception  that  to  obey  is 
merely  to  repent  and  "be  saved"  is  a  half  truth  that  amounts  to 
a  complete  misconstruction  of  Christ's  teaching.  Jesus  insists 
that  men  shall  come  to  him,  and  he  makes  it  plain  that  this  coming 
is  to  be  a  whole-hearted  acceptance  of  his  teaching  and  of  himself 
as  Teacher,  Savior,  Ideal.  Men  are  asked  to  enroll  in  his  school 
and  learn  of  him.^  "  If  any  man  would  come  after  me,  let  him  deny 
himself  and  take  up  his  cross  and  follow  me";^"  but  following  Christ 
cannot  mean  mere  salvation  in  an  individual  and  selfish  sense,  for 
"Wliosoever  would  save  his  life  shall  lose  it","  and  taking  up  the 
cross  of  Christ  can  have  no  significance  other  than  going  about 
doing  good,  loving  one's  neighbor  as  one's  self,  and  humbling  one's 
self  just  as  Jesus  did.  In  fact,  Christ's  teaching  is  intrinsically 
social  to  the  extent  that  man  is  to  "lay  down  his  life  for 
his  friends  ",^^  and  where  circumstances  require  it,  he  is  to  leave 
home,  family,^'  and  occupations^  in  order  to  minister  to  the  very 
least  of  earth's  needy  ones. 

The  social  psychology  of  Jesus  is  an  inseparable  part  of  his 
gospel.  He  recognized  the  family  as  the  primary  social  institu- 
tion^'  about  which  the  group  consciousness  of  man  is  fundamentally 
centered.  He  describes  his  ministry  as  primarily  to  the  Jews,^^  a 
nation  of  patriarchal  origin,  thus  affirming  the  legitimate  growth 
of  group  consciousness  from  family  to  clan  and  from  clan  to  tribe 
and  nation.  He  even  accepted  one  state  as  the  over- lord  of  an- 
other and  advised  the  Jews  to  pay  Rome  the  homage  that  was 
due." 

But  on  the  basis  of  man's  social  consciousness,  he  revealed  God 
as  the  Father  in  heaven,  an  interested  and  loving  Father  of  all. 
Having  one  Father,  all  men  are  therefore  brothers;  and  herein  is 

9.  Matthew  XI,  29.  14.  Mark  X,  21. 

10.  Matthew  XVI,  25.  15.  Matthew  XIX,  5-6. 

11.  Matthew  XVI,  26.  16.  Mark  VII,  27. 

12.  John  XV,  13.  17.  Matthew  XXII,  21. 

13.  Luke  XIV,  26. 


12  Essays  in  Applied  Christianity 

the  key  to  the  world  organization  of  Jesus,  a  higher  social  order 
than  any  men  had  previously  conceived. 

Christ  took  for  granted  the  existence  of  human  governmental 
institutions,  and  with  all  their  imperfections^**  he  recognized  the 
need  for  them  and  the  possibility  of  instiUing  into  those  very  in- 
stitutions the  principles  that  would  ultimately  make  them  con- 
structive factors  in  a  universal  brotherhood  of  man.  He  was  not 
in  any  sense  a  revolutionist.  His  disciples  were  taught  to  be  law- 
abiding  citizens;  and  his  apostles  urged  servants  to  be  obedient 
to  their  masters. ^^  Yet  he  laid  emphasis  upon  the  infinite  worth 
of  individual  man^"  and  the  importance  of  social  service  and  all 
righteousness,  whether  individual,^!  social,"  or  civil,^^  as  to  work 
in  nineteen  hundred  years,  with  the  thoroughness  of  the  leaven  in 
the  meal,^^  a  complete  revolution  in  human  conceptions  of  social 
institutions  and  government.  Human  slavery  was  an  accepted 
institution  of  the  highest  civilization  in  the  time  of  Christ,  just  as 
the  most  absolute  despotism  was  a  common  and  legitimate  form 
of  government;  but  the  civihzation  that  has  grown  up  out  of  the 
humanitarian  principles  of  Jesus  has  completely  destroyed  slavery 
and  has  already  greatly  modified  and  restricted  the  prerogatives 
of  despots. 

In  Christian  civilization  a  new  ideal  of  government  has  gradually 
gained  headway  until  now  it  is  stronger  than  the  armies  and  navies 
of  autocrats.  In  the  time  of  Jesus  men  had  not  learned  to  express 
their  patriotism  or  group  consciousness  adequately  except  when 
the  group  was  personified  in  a  king  or  an  assemblage  of  aristocrats. 
After  Christ  had  expounded  the  all-embracing  individual  and 
social  significance  of  his  doctrine  of  humanity,  men  began  to  learn 
the  lesson  of  being  patriotic  on  behalf  of  the  people  of  their  group 
without  the  necessity  of  an  actual  or  fictitious  governmental  head 
as  the  object  of  their  loyalty.  It  was  then  that  democracy  threw 
of!  the  stigma  of  its  classification  by  Greek  philosophers  with 
ochlocracy  or  mob  rule,-'  and  became  a  legitimate  form  of  govern- 
ment. The  apostles  of  Jesus  recommended  its  principles  for  the 
organization  of  the  church,-^  and  from  the  very  beginning  of  the 
church,  the  spirit  of  democracy  went  everywhere  the  Christians 

18.  Matthew  XXU,  21.  23.  Matthew  XVII I.   24-27. 

19.  Ephesians  VI.  6;  I  Peter  II,  18.  24.  Matthew  XIII.  3.i.  ,  ,  ,  , 
20  Luke  X\  7  25.  Aristotle:  Pohtics,  Book  III, 
21.'  Mark  XVI,  16.  Chapter  7. 

22.  Luke  XIX,  8-9;   Matthew  X,   42.  2«.   .4^  VI,  3. 


How  Christ  Would  Organize  the  World  13 

were  scattered  by  the  persecutions  that  followed  them  until  even 
the  Roman  Senate  passed  away  and  the  emperor  was  surrounded 
instead  by  a  cabinet  of  Christian  pastors^  whose  only  qualification 
for  their  office  was  the  humanitarianism  they  had  learned  from 
their  Master. 

III. 

It  is  historically  evident — and  for  psychological  and  educational 
reasons  to  be  developed  in  succeeding  pages — ^^  that  Jesus  did  not 
give  democracy  to  men  as  a  finished  product,  but  only  in  the  form 
of  a  practical  and  realizable  ideal  with  all  the  principles  and  in- 
structions necessary  for  the  ultimate  establishment  of  that  ideal. 
He  did  not  overthrow  a  single  nation  or  directly  condemn  any 
despotic  ruler  as  such,  but  it  is  certainly  true  that  he  drew  up  the 
fundamental  democratii;  constitution.  He  came  to  bring  a  sword^^ 
and  to  cause  divisions  and  strife  among  men^"  because  he  knew 
that  sinning  and  selfish  humanity  would  not  accept  his  altruistic 
teachings  without  stubborn  resistance  and  that  kings  would  not 
respect  the  rights  of  the  poor  and  down-trodden  until  they  were 
forced  to  do  so.  Not  depriving  despots  of  their  most  powerful 
weapons,  he  yet  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  unlearned  and  lowly^^ 
the  power  of  a  Name^^  and  the  potency  of  a  teaching  that  would 
insure  the  gradual  rise  of  the  masses  and  the  ultimate  overthrow  of 
all  the  varied  conceptions  of  the  "divine  right  of  kings". 

The  term  "democracy"  is  generally  taken  to  mean  a  form  of 
government  similar  to  that  of  the  United  States  or  Canada;  but 
according  to  Jesus,  democracy  cannot  be  defined  merely  as  a  sys- 
tem of  government  nor  can  it  be  adequately  illustrated  by  taking 
the  most  advanced  government  of  the  twentieth  century  for  an 
example.  The  democracy  of  Jesus  is  an  ideal  toward  which  human- 
ity is  to  grow,  and  the  states  that  have  adopted  democratic  forms 
of  government  are  striving  toward  that  ideal  but  may  as  yet  be 
far  from  reaching  it.  This  does  not  mean  that  these  states  are 
not  democracies,  but  that  they  are  such  only  in  a  growing  and  ever 
developing  sense  and  not  in  an  ultimate  sense  at  all.  This  ideal  of 
democracy  is  in  no  way  an  unrealizable  abstraction;  with  Jesus  it 

27.  Fairbairn:    The  Philosophy  of  the  30.  Matthew  X,  35-36. 
Christian  Religion,  p.  321.  31.  Acts  IV.  13. 

28.  See  VI.  below.  32.  John  XIV.  13:  Acts  IV,  12. 

29.  Matthew  X.  34. 


14  Essays  in  Applied  Christianity 

was  a  simple  brotherhood  of  men  which  he  made  eminently  con- 
crete in  his  own  life^'  and  which  the  comparatively  successful 
attempts  of  modern  nations  have  proved  to  be  practical  through- 
out. 

To  demonstrate  the  practical  success  of  democracy,  let  the  most 
successful  of  undemocratic  nations  be  considered  for  the  purpose 
of  comparison: 

Modern  Germany  is  the  result  of  unique  historical  conditions. 
These  conditions  have  been  the  occasion  out  of  which  have  grown 
a  national  philosophy  and  ideals  of  state  radically  different  from 
those  of  her  democratic  neighbors.  While  democratic  nations 
have  been  stumbling  along,  however  lamely,  in  the  paths  of  the 
universal  humanitarianism  of  Jesus,  the  teachings  of  Kant,  Fichte, 
and  Hegel  have  engendered  within  the  German  people  an  intense 
patriotism  that  in  effect  deifies  the  state  and  conceives  for  Ger- 
many a  peculiar  mission  and  destiny  among  the  nations  of  the 
world.  It  was  Fichte  who  declared  patriotism  to  be  the  will  that 
the  end  of  cosmopolitanism  be  first  realized  by  the  German  nation 
and  should  then  spread  to  the  rest  of  the  world.^*  The  inculcation 
of  these  ideas  has  been  promoted  and  made  permanent  by  a  gov- 
ernment that  entrenches  itself  behind  the  most  powerful  military 
machine  the  world  has  ever  known,^^  and  at  the  same  time  provides 
for  the  welfare  of  the  German  people  by  the  administration  of 
justice  and  the  organization  of  social  life  according  to  the  most 
scientific  ideals  of  an  enlightened  age.  Government  supervision 
of  schools'^  and  the  suppression  of  certain  classes  of  anti-militar- 
istic literature,^^  combined  with  an  undoubted  efficiency  of  educa- 
tional, industrial  and  administrative  methods,  has  served  to 
enmesh  the  German  people  in  a  united  conception  of  their  own 
excellence  and  the  supreme  duty  of  imposing  that  excellence  upon 
the  world. ^^ 

It  is  claimed  for  Germany  that  this  admitted  proficiency  in 
governmental,  industrial  and  social  methods  proves  her  to  be  the 
most  successful  of  modern  nations.  Without  attempting  to  take 
account  of  how  much  she  may  have  lost  or  may  yet  lose  by  barter- 
ing individual  initiative  for  machine-like  precision,  we  must  note 

33.  John  XIII.  14.  36.   Ibid.,  pp.  241-259. 

34.  Dewey:    German    Philosophy    and  37.   Ward:  Applied  Sociology,  p.  78. 
Politics,  p.  99.  38.   Bernhardi:  Germany  and  the  Next 

35.  Bernhardl:  Germany  and  the  S'ezt  War,  pp.  72-84. 
War,  pp.  183-205. 


How  Christ  Would  Organize  the  World  15 

that  there  are  other  considerations  bearing  so  directly  upon  the 
question  of  her  success  or  failure  that  they  cannot  be  overlooked. 

As  a  standard  by  which  the  success  of  nations  may  be  judged,  it 
is  sufficient  for  the  present  discussion  to  refer  to  the  outline  of 
essential  functions  set  forth  by  Woodrow  Wilson  in  his  treatise  on 
"The  State ".^^  Without  enumerating  these  essentials,  or  consid- 
ering the  detrimental  phases  of  universal  military  service,  that 
deprives  every  able-bodied  man  in  the  German  Empire  of  several 
of  his  most  productive  years  and  taxes  the  entire  population  to 
support  the  horde  of  professional  non-producers  of  the  military 
aristocracy,  let  it  be  admitted  that  the  martial  exactness  of  German 
life  makes  for  success  and  that  modern  Germany  has  been  the  most 
successful  of  nations.  Even  then  it  does  not  follow  that  Germany 
is  successful  in  any  permanent  sense. 

It  is  common  for  men  to  be  misled  by  conditions  that  break 
down  under  a  crisis.  To  grant  the  success  of  Germany  prior  to  the 
present  Euproean  war,  is  not  to  conclude  that  she  has  maintained 
that  state  of  national  fortune.  The  newspapers  are  full  of  the 
success  of  German  arms,  but  military  success  is  only  one  of  Dr. 
Wilson's  eight  essential  functions  of  a  state.  The  protection  of 
citizens  from  personal  violence  is  another  essential  function,  and 
in  this  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  German  people  consider  their 
government  successful.  They  know  only  what  the  government 
has  told  them  about  the  causes  of  the  war,  but  they  know  that  two 
millions  of  their  finest  men  were  sacrificed  in  the  first  sixteen 
months  of  conflict.  It  matters  little  what  the  final  result  of  the 
war  may  be,  or  what  terms  of  peace  may  be  agreed  on;  the  most 
sweeping  victory  for  German  arms  can  never  compensate  the 
German  people  for  even  the  present  situation.  However  efficiently 
Germany  may  in  the  past  have  been  executing  for  her  people  the 
essential  functions  of  a  state,  she  has  failed  in  the  end  to  protect 
their  lives  and  their  homes.  Whatever  may  have  been  said  a  few 
years  ago  in  favor  of  the  German  system,  it  is  now  patent  to  the 
whole  world  that  its  success  was  only  temporary,  and  that  Ger- 
many stands  today,  a  most  dismal  failure  among  the  civilized 
nations  of  the  world. 

If  Germany,  unquestionably  the  most  powerful,  efficient  and 
civilized  of  bureaucracies,  cannot  be  classed  as  one  of  the  truly 

39.  Wilson:  The  State,  p.  639. 


16  Essaijs  in  Applied  Christianity 

and  permanently  successful  nations  of  the  world,  it  is  a  conclusion 
that,  for  the  i)urpose  of  this  discussion,  needs  no  further  demon- 
stration, that  democracy  is  the  prevailing  form  of  government 
among  the  nations  that  are  successful.  This  conclusion  need  not 
imply  that  all  governments  in  any  way  autocratic  or  bureaucratic 
are  total  failures,  or  that  democracy  has  yet  reached  its  ideal;  it 
may  recognize  several  legitimate  forms  of  government,  as  Aristotle 
did  f'^  but  it  does  mean  that  among  these  successful  forms,  democ- 
racy stands,  without  possibility  of  impeachment  by  a  modern 
world,  at  the  head  of  the  list. 

In  the  evolutionary  conception  of  Jesus,  national  government 
is  as  essential  to  a  democracy  as  to  a  monarchy,  but  in  principle 
and  practice  it  is  so  organized  and  subject  to  the  will  of  the  people 
that  it  cannot  easily  come  to  be  looked  upon  as  an  end  but  only  as 
a  means.  Democratic  governments  at  their  present  state  of  devel- 
opment are  the  results  of  the  efforts  of  human  intelligence  to  apply 
the  principles  and  the  sentiments  of  social  consciousness  directly 
to  man  as  their  ultimate  object  and  end.  In  order  to  carry  out 
this  ideal  of  patriotism  on  behalf  of  man,  democratic  nations  have 
developed  institutions  and  practices  varying  according  to  different 
conceptions  of  democracy,  yet  characteristic  in  their  emphasis  of 
fundamental  principles.*^  These  principles  are  founded  on  the 
central  theme  of  individual  liberty  combined  with  social  and  civil 
justice. 

By  the  principles  of  Jesus  it  is  certainly  justifiable  for  a  democ- 
racy to  protect  its  citizens  from  foreign  oppression,*^  ^j^^  [^  cannot, 
in  consistency  with  its  character,  require  them  to  pay  for  that 
protection  the  price  of  oppression  at  home.  For  when  a  democratic 
state,  even  to  protect  herself  against  the  aggressive  ambitions  of 
a  military'  neighbor,  saddles  upon  her  people  a  system  that  deprives 
them  of  their  freedom  to  live  and  love  all  men  as  neighbors  and 
brothers,  she  has  sacrificed  the  very  principles  that  make  her  a 
democracy. 

IV. 

If.  from  Christ's  justification  of  national  defense  and  from  the 
relative  national  liberty  of  Americans  and  Canadians,  it  would 

40.   Aristotle:    Politics,    Book    III,  41.   Croly;    The  Promise  of  Amrrican 

Chapter    <.  ufe.  pp.   1-7. 

42.    Luke  XXI r.  36. 


How  Christ  Would  Organize  the  World  17 

seem  to  a  casual  observer  that  the  democratic  conception  of  Jesus 
was  nearing  realization  at  least  in  the  two  great  sister  states  of 
North  America,  it  is  necessary  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 
with  Christ  "the  field  is  the  world ".^^  No  human  organization, 
however  high  and  irreproachable  may  be  its  motives  and  ideals, 
can  be  truly  said  to  be  an  actualized  counterpart  of  the  teachings 
of  Jesus  until  its  beneficent  influence  is  extended  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth.*^  The  problem  of  human  governmental  organization  is 
one  of  the  establishment  of  justice  and  the  promotion  of  the  gen- 
eral welfare  throughout  the  world.  This  cannot  be  accomplished 
by  a  world  sovereignty  similar  to  that  of  Rome  or  by  any  world 
empire,  whatever  its  government,  that  relies  on  the  philosophy  of 
power  to  extend  its  dominion.  It  is  not  inconceivable  that  a 
nation  might  become  sufficiently  strong  to  conquer  a  twentieth 
century  world,  but  it  is  entirely  beyond  the  conception  of  reason 
that  this  nation  could  long  retain  its  rule  over  the  world  it  had 
subjugated. 

But  if  the  possibility  of  permanent  world  organization  on  the 
basis  of  power  were  granted,  it  would  not  be  the  organization  of 
Jesus.  In  his  teachings  arbitrary  might  has  no  standing  what- 
ever;'*^ the  only  aristocracy  shall  be  one  of  service  and  the  first  in 
society  shall  be  the  most  humble  servant  of  all.  The  world  organ- 
ization of  Jesus  must  be  based  on  the  principles  of  social  service 
and  worked  out  by  a  system  of  government  that  will  overlook  the 
rights  of  none  and  jealouslj^  guard  the  welfare  of  all.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  what  men  have  called  democracy  may  become 
so  perverted  as  to  be  democracy  no  more;  nevertheless  the  democ- 
racy of  Jesus,  a  government  of  men  organized  and  administered 
by  men  and  for  men,  has  grown  steadily  in  importance  and  power 
ever  since  Christianity  threw  off  the  fetters  of  the  Dark  Ages, 
until  now,  with  all  its  variations  and  in  spite  of  its  difficulties  and 
occasional  retrogressions,  it  is  the  form  of  government  that  has 
shown  itself  most  ready  to  adopt  measures  for  the  restriction  of 
national  armaments  and  for  international  conciliation. 

The  responsibility  for  the  present  European  war  rests  primarily 
upon  the  governments  that,  in  holding  to  mediaeval  ideas  of 
militarism,  have  failed  to  keep  abreast  of  the  growth  of  the  world 

43.  Matthew  XIII,  38.  4.5.   Mark  IX.  35. 

44.  Acts   I.   8. 


18  Essaijs  in  Applied  Christianity 

toward  democracy.  The  efTort  of  Lord  Roberts  to  establish  uni- 
versal military  service  in  England  failed  because  democratic  ideals 
had  become  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  the  people  of  the  United 
Kingdom.  Churchill's  proposal  of  a  "naval  holiday"  was  scorned 
by  the  German  government  because  in  Germany  there  were  no 
untrammeled  democratic  ideals  that  could  lead  the  people  to  veto 
the  vaulting  ambitions  of  autocracy.  Europe  armed  herself 
because  neighboring  military  autocrats  forced  defensive  measures 
upon  each  other  and  upon  democracies;  in  such  a  situation  it 
required  but  a  spark  of  autocratic  arrogance  to  enkindle  popular 
dread,  and  the  war  came. 

It  is  evident  that  the  European  war  is  not  a  clash  of  merely 
national  ideals;  no  Englishman  seriously  objects  to  the  collectivistic 
social  habits  of  his  Teuton  neighbors,  and  few  citizens  of  Berlin 
would  do  more  than  satirize  the  individualism  of  the  people  of  the 
island  democracy.  The  only  really  vital  point  in  the  radical  differ- 
ence between  German  and  English  popular  ideals,  is  the  fact  that 
the  German  ideals  ha^'e  permitted  a  bureaucracy  to  exploit  the 
wealth  and  the  people  of  the  nation,  to  the  end  of  its  own  military 
aggrandizement. 

But  the  European  war  is  a  clash  of  ideals.  The  ideals  at  issue 
are  evident  only  when  the  various  ideas  of  government  held  by 
the  nations  involved  are  analyzed  in  connection  with  the  general 
trend  of  history.  This  analysis  brings  to  light  two  inherently 
antagonistic  factors:  on  the  one  hand,  democracy,  desiring  and 
even  proposing  limitation  of  armament,  and  on  the  other,  autoc- 
racy, preparing  for  war.  The  fact  that  autocratic  Russia  is  fighting 
against  (lermany,  is  a  seeming,  t)ut  not  a  real  complication  in  the 
problem,  for  autocrats  have  always  feared  each  other  no  less  than 
their  aggressive  ambitions  have  been  feared  by  democracies.  The 
ideal  of  democracy  is  the  one  most  at  odds  with  the  ideal  of  the 
absolute  value  of  the  state,  and  the  issues  are  joined  when  we  take 
cognizance  of  the  fact  that  armies  and  navies,  the  bond-servants 
of  autocrats,  are  struggling  against  the  aggressive  militarism  of 
other  autocrats  and  the  defensive  preparations  of  democracy. 

This  does  not  mean  necessarily  that  the  Entente  Allies  are  con- 
sciously fighting  for  the  rights  of  the  common  i)eople  of  Germany 
or  even  of  England,  for  in  the  British  Empire  with  all  her  self- 
governing  dominions,  tJiere  are  influential  reactionaries,  bureau- 


How  Christ  Would  Organize  the  World  19 

crats  at  heart,  who  are  contending  for  the  perpetuation  of  the 
monarchical  elements  in  their  own  system,  elements  that  furnish 
opportunities  for  the  continued  subjugation  of  the  masses.  But 
it  does  mean  that  if  the  war  shall  cease  with  autocrats  still  en- 
throned under  the  principles  of  supreme  national  sovereignty,  it 
will  be  but  a  matter  of  time  until  their  selfishness  will  again  drive 
men  at  the  throats  of  their  fellows;  while  if  the  predominant  factor 
in  regenerated  Europe  is  humanity  organized  nationally  upon  the 
basis  of  the  democracy  of  Jesus,  there  will  be  every  incentive  and 
opportunity  for  world  organization  that  will  make  international 
wars  an  impossibility. 

V. 

In  seeking  to  ascertain  the  responsibility  for  international  wars, 
it  is  singularly  striking  and  revelant  to  note  that  while  democracies 
have  not  succeeded  in  avoiding  war  with  autocratic  neighbors,  it 
is  possible  for  them  to  keep  peace  among  themselves.  This  is  no 
longer  a  matter  of  speculation;  it  is  an  established  fact.  Common 
democratic  ideals  have  enabled  the  United  States  and  Canada  to 
live  side  by  side  for  a  hundred  years  with  an  undefended  border 
line  four  thousand  miles  long  and  with  not  a  single  war.  No  one 
who  has  faithfully  sought  to  interpret  history  would  think  of  con- 
sidering such  lack  of  preparedness  and  its  consequent  peace  in  the 
slightest  degree  possible,  if  either  the  United  States  or  Canada  had 
been  an  autocracy  in  practice.  The  leading  nations  of  South 
America  are  fast  attaining  to  this  state  of  mutual  trust.  The  time 
has  assuredly  come  when  it  is  reasonable  for  humanity  to  plan  con- 
structively for  a  similar  mutual  confidence  and  understanding  to 
prevail  among  nations  throughout  the  world;  and  to  attain  this, 
it  is  eminently  fitting  that  democracy,  the  ideal  that  has  brought 
peace  to  nations  and  states  that  formerly  fought  with  each  other, 
should  be  applied  to  the  whole  world. 

Even  a  casual  glance  at  the  last  two  thousand  years  of  the 
world's  history  shows  the  inevitable  tendency  of  nations  to  grow 
larger  and  larger.  The  motive  behind  this  general  evolution  has 
been  in  some  nations  the  power  and  ambitions  of  a  ruling  class  or 
family,  while  others  have  grown  because  the  democratic  principles 
of  their  governments  proved  attractive  to  men  who  flocked  from 


20  Essays  in  Applied  Ch^'istianity 

all  parts  of  tlie  earth  to  cast  their  lot  with  the  growing  democracy. 
Rome,  a  typical  example  of  the  former  class,  extended  her  bound- 
aries until  she  became  the  undisputed  ruler  of  the  world;  then  her 
power  passed  more  quickly  than  it  had  come.  Her  efforts  and 
methods  have  been  reproduced  in  all  essential  details  by  Charle- 
magne, Napoleon,  and  William  II,  each  with  less  show  of  success 
than  his  predecessor. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  humanitarianism  of  Jesus  has  constantly 
led  to  an  increased  recognition  of  the  rights  of  man  and  the  formu- 
lation of  principles  of  government  to  enforce  those  rights.  Demo- 
cratic ideals  led  the  American  people  to  throw  off  the  autocratic 
yoke  of  George  III,  and  inspired  the  French  to  endure  the  horrors 
of  their  own  revolution  to  the  end  of  an  established  republic.  The 
very  same  principles  of  humanity  deprived  Spain  of  all  her  Amer- 
ican colonies  and  created  the  great  self-governing  dominions  of 
the  British  Empire.  German  bureaucrats  have  contended  that 
the  British  Empire  would  fall  to  pieces  in  the  event  of  a  foreign 
war;*^  but  the  part  that  Australia  and  Canada  have  played  on  the 
battle-fields  of  Europe  shows  conclusively  that  the  bond  of  human 
freedom  is  stronger  than  the  iron  rule  of  autocrats. 

The  common  democratic  ties  of  tlie  far-extended  British  Empire 
is  a  beginning  of  world  organization  that  the  militarism  of  German 
bureaucracy  has  completely  failed  to  shake.  Is  it  contended  that 
British  democracy  has  not  been  left  to  cope  single-handed  with 
German  militarism?  Granted.  The  call  that  brought  England 
and  France  to  each  other's  aid  when  German  absolutism  was 
advancing  on  Paris,  was  the  common  danger  to  the  democracy  of 
both  peoples.  The  objection  that  the  entrance  of  England  into 
the  war  was  favored  by  her  upper  classes,  is  little  more  than  a 
quibble,  for  no  one  believes  that  Australians,  Canadians,  and  the 
working  classes  of  England  would  have  fought  on  the  side  of 
bureaucracy  merely  to  please  London  aristocrats.  The  very  same 
reason  accounts  for  the  sympathies  of  practically  all  the  people  of 
the  United  States  who  are  not  directly  or  indirectly  hyphenated 
with  the  Central  Powers. 

No  one  would  think  of  the  possibility  of  war  between  Australia 
or  New  Zealand  and  Canada.  Since  the  overthrow  of  tlie  Napo- 
leons there  has  not  been  a  hint  of  possible  war  between  the  United 

46.   Usher:  Pan-Germanism,  pp.  37-47. 


How  Christ  Would  Organize  the  World  21 

States  and  France,  xlmerican  militarists  never  talk  about  a  com- 
ing conflict  with  Great  Britain;  they  say  our  common  interests  are 
too  great.  And  it  must  be  noted  also  that  no  one  has  deemed  it 
worth  while  to  mention  the  likelihood  of  war  between  the  United 
States  and  Argentina,  Brazil,  or  Chile. 

Why  all  this  past  and  anticipated  future  harmony  among  demo- 
cratic nations,  and  why  do  American  preparedness  advocates 
always  point  out  Germany  or  Japan  as  the  possible  enemies  of  the 
United  States?  The  reason  is  obvious:  democracy  does  not  care 
to  destroy;  it  is  capable  of  defensive  militarj^  preparation,  and  it 
will  fight  a  defensive  war,  but  history  proves  that  democracy  is 
not,  like  autocracy  or  bureaucracy,  inherently  inclined  toward 
aggressive  mihtary  conquest.  Give  universal  manhood  a  right  to 
rule  and  it  will  be  seen  that  civilized  men  are  not  man-killers  at 
heart  and  they  do  not  desire  to  live  by  pillage  and  exploitation  of 
their  fellows.  Herein  is  evident  the  extent  to  which  the  leaven  of 
Christ's  teaching  has  already  leavened  the  whole  lump  of  human 
society. 

In  spite  of  the  continued  eulogies  of  ultra-militarists  upon  the 
glories  and  spiritual  benefits  of  war,  the  popular  conception  of 
that  time-honored  method  of  settHng  international  disputes  is 
rapidly  undergoing  a  change.  Throughout  all  human  history  par- 
ents have  trained  their  sons  for  battle  and  on  countless  occasions 
the  sons  have  gloried  in  the  priceless  privilege  of  giving  their  lives 
for  their  countries.  Over  and  over  again  multitudes  of  people 
have  experienced  and  rejoiced  in  the  emotional  exaltation  that  has 
taken  possession  of  their  souls  when  a  common  danger  has  welded 
their  bonds  of  mutual  fellowship  and  made  them  grandly  conscious 
of  their  kind.  In  these  hours  of  self-forgetfulness  and  unrestrained 
devotion  to  their  fellows,  men  have  achieved  their  loftiest  heights 
of  self-realization  and  have  testified  that  then  only  have  they 
truly  lived.^^  No  one  conversant  with  social  psychology  will  doubt 
the  sincerity  of  their  testimony  or  the  value  of  their  experiences; 
still,  throughout  the  world,  and  especially  among  democratic 
peoples,  there  is  an  irresistible  growth  of  sentiment  that  war  with 
all  its  glories,  is  yet  a  relic  of  barbarism  and  an  unmitigated  evil; — 
and  militarists  are  answering  with  the  cry  of  race  degeneration. 

47.  Mead:  The  Psychological  Bases  of 
Internationalism,  in  The  Surtev, 
March  C,   1915. 


22  Essays  in  Applied  Christianity 

This  is  not  the  first  time  that  the  short-sightedness  of  man  has 
read  as  social  degeneracy  the  signs  that  have  really  portended 
social  growth.  The  decline  of  the  ancient  war  spirit  does  not 
indicate  that  man  has  forgotten  his  fellow  citizens,  but  that  he  has 
remembered  his  fellowship  with  humanity  as  a  whole.  Patriotism 
is  not  dying  out;  it  is  pressing  forward  to  keep  abreast  of  the  devel- 
opment of  the  group  consciousness  of  man.  WTien,  through 
Twentieth  Century  intercommunication,  men  have  learned  to 
recognize  their  fellowship  with  men  of  other  nations,  it  is  psj^cho- 
logically  inevitable  that  their  sentiments  should  follow  their 
knowledge;  and  it  must  be  remembered  that  patriotism,  in  its  real 
and  highest  sense,  is  an  exalted  consciousness  of  group,  and  not  a 
mere  passion  of  mutual  admiration  among  those  who  domicile 
within  the  political  limits  of  nations.  A  casual  observer  in  the 
habit  of  marking  a  river  by  its  banks,  might  conclude,  when  a 
flood  had  obliterated  the  banks,  that  the  river  itself  had  disappear- 
ed; thus  have  militarists  drawn  superficial  conclusions  in  deciding 
that  patriotism  is  lost  because  it  is  no  longer  hemmed  in  by  national 
boundaries. 

All  of  the  truly  organic  groups  of  every  nation,  such  as  labor, 
science,  religion,  finance,  and  capital — when  not  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  munitions  of  war — are  unanimous  in  their  desire 
for  world  peace.  The  rank  and  file  of  humanity  throughout  the 
civilized  world  is  agreed  as  to  the  futility  as  well  as  the  pernicious 
character  of  war  as  a  means  of  settling  international  disputes. 
Mankind  agrees  that  war  should  be  abolished;  only  a  method  is 
lacking. 

The  method  should  be  the  elimination  of  the  cause. 

It  is  true  that  the  causes  of  the  various  wars  of  history  have  been 
as  numberless  as  the  sands  of  the  sea,  but  it  is  not  necessary  to 
prove  to  men  of  a  cosmopolitan  age  that  nations  no  longer  go  to 
war  on  grounds  that  were  once  considered  adequate.  It  is  con- 
ceded that  the  factors  involved  in  occasioning  the  present  European 
war  are  intricate  beyond  all  hope  of  accurate  classification,  but 
it  is  not  illogical  to  look  beneath  the  tangled  maze  of  causes  for 
the  fundamental  cause  without  which  the  others  could  reasonably 
be  expected  to  have  come  to  naught.  We  have  attempted  to  show 
that  the  European  var  is  primarily  a  clash  between  democratic 
and  autocratic  ideals.  jdkI  I  hat  il  W(niM  not  and  could  not  have 


How  Christ  Would  Organize  the  World  23 

assumed  more  than  comparatively  insignificant  proportions  but 
for  the  military  preparations  and  ambitions  of  autocrats  who  rule 
under  systems  of  government  that  do  not  hold  them  directly 
responsible  and  subject  to  the  will  of  their  people.  If  autocracy  has 
been  shown,  wnth  a  reasonable  degree  of  accuracy,  to  be  the  pri- 
mary cause  of  modern  warfare,  it  is  legitimate  to  propose  a  plan 
for  its  ultimate  elimination  and  the  substitution  of  democracy. 

No  one  would  deem  it  within  the  bounds  of  reason  for  the  dem- 
ocratic nations,  in  urging  democracy  as  a  plan  for  world  organiza- 
tion, to  overthrow  autocrats  by  force  and  compel  their  subjects 
to  undertake  the  problems  of  self-government.  Democracy  is  an 
ideal  that  must  develop  and  exist  in  the  hearts  of  a  people  before 
it  can  become  an  established  principle  in  their  government.  Dem- 
ocratic states  must  proceed  by  methods  consistent  with  their  char- 
acter if  they  would  hope  to  lead  a  war-impoverished  world  into  the 
fields  of  industry  and  prosperity  that  they  are  developing  for 
themselves.  Democratic  methods  are  primarily  methods  of  edu- 
cation, and  it  is  now  the  problem  and  duty  of  all  men  who  cherish 
democratic  ideals  to  teach  those  ideals  to  their  fellows  throughout 
the  world. 

VI. 

This  brings  us  to  a  fuller  consideration  of  the  methods  Christ 
has  recommended,  and  through  his  apostles  actually  established, 
for  the  ultimate  accomplishment  of  world  organization.  It  is  one 
thing  to  point  out  Christ's  ideal  of  human  brotherhood,  and  it  is 
quite  another  to  state  in  practical  terms  a  feasible  means  of  attain- 
ing that  ideal.  Men  have  conceived  and  have  earnestly  sought  to 
utilize  many  agencies  for  social  uplift,  none  of  which  have  been 
more  than  partially  successful.  The  futility  of  power  as  a  means 
of  human  regeneration  has  grown  increasingly  apparent.  History 
proves  that  a  people  cannot  be  driven  into  anything  better  than  a 
temporary  and  artificial  civilization,  the  final  break-down  of  which 
will  be  appalling  and  destructive  in  direct  proportion  to  the  length 
of  time  the  inherent  strength  of  the  system  has  enabled  it  to  stand. 
Men  have  found  no  other  means  of  lifting  the  fellow  who  is  down 
than  by  teaching  him. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  to  find  Jesus  pre-eminently  a  teacher; 


24  Essays  in  Applied  Christianity 

his  disciples'^  and  his  enemies^^  ahke  regarded  him  as  such,  and 
after  nineteen  centuries  he  is  still  recognized  as  the  greatest 
Teacher  of  men.  He  has  provided  no  other  way  for  the  social 
regeneration  of  humanity  than  that  men  shall  learn  of  him  and  test 
his  teachings  in  the  laboratory  of  life.  He  is  the  consistent  fulfill- 
ment of  the  Old  Testament  record  of  the  educational  preparation 
of  the  Jewish  people  for  his  coming.  Israel  was  a  preparatory 
school  for  enrollment  under  the  Teacher  who  was  to  imiversalize 
the  fundamentals  of  social  and  individual  righteousness. 

The  development  of  social  institutions  has  always  been  subject 
to  the  educational  progress  of  mankind.  It  was  a  psychological 
prerequisite  to  the  establishment  of  a  nation  that  the  tribes  com- 
posing that  nation  should  learn  to  think  in  national  terms.  Exper- 
ience had  taught  them  the  futility  and  suicidal  character  of  inter- 
tribal wars,  and  they  had  come  to  see  how  their  common  interests 
could  be  conserved  and  promoted  by  a  more  comprehensive  organ- 
ization along  lines  of  federation  and  national  unity. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  continued  advance  of  learning,  a  world 
system  based  on  separate  national  governments  might  have  pre- 
sented no  insuperable  difficulties.  But  hand  in  hand,  or  as  a 
precursor  to  governmental  evolution,  science  and  invention  has 
been  shortening  the  distance  and  increasing  the  intercourse  between 
nations,  until  now  commercial  and  racial  ties  bind  the  whole  world 
into  one  vast  community.  As  a  result  of  the  wide  dissemination 
of  knowledge  made  possible  by  the  development  of  printing,  men 
of  all  nations  have  come  to  think  the  same  thoughts  and  to  be 
guided  by  kindred  motives.  Twentieth  century  cosmopolitanism 
renders  it  impossible  for  any  nation  to  preserve  its  institutions 
uninfluenced  by  those  of  neighboring  states.  The  time  has  come 
when  no  nation  is  a  Selkirk  on  an  island  by  itself.  A  despot  can- 
not rise  and  trample  upon  the  rights  of  the  most  obscure  people  in 
all  the  world  without  menacing  the  free  institutions  of  all  peo- 
ples who  hold  those  rights  sacred. 

If  the  present  state  of  civilization  and  national  organization  is 
an  achievement  of  education  along  the  lines  of  practical  social 
psychology,  and  the  enlarged  groups  are  the  result  of  a  growth  of 
social  consciousness,  it  follows  that  world  organization  is  but  an- 

48.  Luke  XI,   1.  , 

49.  Matthew  IX,   11. 


Hoiv  Christ  Would  Organize  the  World  25 

other  step  in  the  progress  of  mankind.  For  the  psychological 
reasons  just  stated,  it  would  be  useless  for  constructive  pacifists 
to  plan  for  a  time  when  international  wars  shall  cease,  if  it  were 
not  true  that  men  are  learning  and  have  learned  to  think  in  world 
terms.  The  international  character  of  trade  and  commerce  is 
unquestioned.  The  problem  of  the  cost  of  living  is  faced  by  the 
Hindoo  with  his  seven  cents  a  day  no  less  than  by  the  skilled  work- 
man of  America.  Only  in  the  rarest  cases,  among  peoples  who  do 
not  figure  in  the  councils  of  ci\'ilized  nations,  do  national  boun- 
daries have  any  relation  to  religious  questions  or  race  problems. 
The  labor  question  is  not  confined  to  any  nation;  neither  is  the 
question  of  capital.  The  intellectual  interchange  in  the  fields  of 
science,  literature,  and  social  uplift,  is  not  limited  by  the  frontiers 
of  any  nation. 

These  and  many  other  concerns  now  uppermost  in  men's  minds 
are  undoubtedly  world  interests.  The  problem  for  statesmen  and 
philosophers  is  not  so  much  a  question  of  teaching  men  to  think,  as 
it  is  one  of  being  able  to  recognize  the  fact  that  they  do  actually 
think  in  world  terms.  The  universal  humanitarianism  of  Jesus  has 
already  permeated  society  to  this  extent.  It  is  a  result  of  these 
common  fields  of  thought  that,  between  the  plain  people  of  the 
different  world  powers,  there  is  an  almost  universal  feeling  of 
friendship.  With  the  exception  of  the  race  hatred  between  the 
Serbs  and  the  Hungarians,  there  was  nothing  in  the  former  atti- 
tudes of  European  peoples  toward  each  other  to  explain  the  present 
war.  Englishmen  and  Frenchmen  did  not  feel  personal  hatred  for 
Germans,  and  German  citizens  had  no  private  animosity  toward 
the  people  of  the  nations  now  opposing  the  Fatherland.  Prior  to 
the  war  they  had  been  university  classmates,  and  side  by  side  they 
had  traded  in  the  markets  of  the  world;  social  contact  had  engen- 
dered mutual  respect,  and  they  asked  no  higher  privilege  than  to 
go  on  in  unmolested  intercourse  and  friendly  competition. 

The  problem  of  world  organization  on  the  basis  of  Christ's 
teaching,  is  merely  an  educational  problem.  Jesus  would  obliterate 
class  distinction  by  educating  all  men  to  a  realization  of  their  duty 
to  participate  in  a  world  society  where  the  leaders  will  be  those 
who  excel  in  social  service. ^'^  While  such  democratic  principles 
of  necessity  leave  no  room  for  autocrats,  and  even  ignore  national 

50.   Matthew  XVII f,  4. 


26  Essays  in  Applied  Christianity 

boundaries  in  the  commonly  accepted  sense,  they  make  more 
important  than  ever  the  hierarchy  of  social  groups,  each  perform- 
ing its  particular  function  in  human  service,  from  family  and 
village  on  up  to  nation  and  world.  Having  learned  to  think  in 
world  terms  in  the  fields  of  science,  religion,  and  many  others  of 
practical  every-day  interest,  the  next  rational  step  in  human 
progress  is  for  men  to  realize  the  world-wide  character  of  all  that 
is  worthy  in  their  national  ideals.  Democratic  ideals  have  elimi- 
nated autocrats  from  the  national  affairs  of  democracies,  and  the 
citizens  have  learned  that  their  government  is  merely  a  co-opera- 
tive agency,  created  by  themselves,  for  their  individual  and  col- 
lective welfare.  Democratic  ideals  applied  to  the  world  will  lead 
men  to  see  that  in  international  relations  men  are  dealing  with 
men,  and  that  the  artificial  conception  of  the  state  as  a  personified, 
irresponsible  entity  is  as  out-worn  and  mediaeval  as  the  autocrat 
who  persists  in  teaching  such  doctrines  to  his  people  in  order  to 
retain  his  throne.  It  is  the  problem  of  democracies  to  teach  uni- 
versal humanity  the  basic  conception  of  Jesus  in  the  field  of  poli- 
tics, that  nations  exist  for  men  and  not  men  for  nations. 

In  this  program  of  world  teaching  is  to  be  found  the  only  con- 
sistent plan  of  defensive  preparedness  for  democratic  nations; 
just  as  in  the  ever  growing  principles  of  progressive  democracy, 
lies  the  only  hope  of  civilization.  It  has  come  to  be  a  compara- 
tively simple  matter  for  one  citizen  of  a  democracy  to  teach  dem- 
ocratic principles  to  his  fellow  citizens.  It  is  not  a  simple  matter 
for  democratic  nations  to  teach  the  ideals  of  democracy  to  other 
peoples  whose  very  minds  are  fettered  by  the  methods  of  ruling 
autocrats.  Even  if  it  were  possible  for  democratic  propagandists 
to  scatter  their  literature  broadcast  among  autocratic  peoples, 
their  efforts  would  be  interpreted  as  insincere  and  would  be  largely 
fruitless  as  long  as  their  own  democratic  governments  were  build- 
ing warships  in  "preparing  to  vindicate  their  rights  to  independent 
and  unmolested  action  ".^^  A  democratic  state  that  arms  herself 
beyond  what  is  necessary  to  maintain  internal  order  and  to  resist 
invasion,  is  testifying  to  the  world  that  she  has  lost  faith  in  her 
democracy;  but  a  nation  so  favored  geographically  that  she  can 
safely  refrain  from  endangering  her  democratic  institutions  by 

31.  President  Wilson:  Speech  at  Man- 
hattan Club,  New  York  City, 
November  4,  3915. 


Hoiv  Christ  Would  Organize  the  World  27 

excessive  armament,  even  amid  the  violence  of  a  vrar-crazed  world, 
is  endowed  with  an  unequaled  opportunity  to  teach  that  world  the 
ideals  that  must  ultimately  emancipate  all  men  from  the  fetters  of 
autocracy. 

Excessive  military  preparation  for  the  United  States  can  never 
do  more  than  neutralize  the  competitive  preparations  of  other 
nations;  but  an  ardently  cultivated  spirit  of  friendship  and  social 
intercommunication  between  our  people  and  the  people  of  all 
nations  by  means  of  commerce  and  the  interchange  of  thought  in 
the  fields  of  education,  science,  and  religion — if  the  friendship 
should  not  be  rendered  suspicious  by  accompanying  militarism — 
would  not  only  protect  our  country  from  foreign  invasion,  but 
would  lead  other  peoples  to  follow  our  example  even  to  the  ultimate 
extent  of  tearing  down  their  false,  autocratic  foundations  and 
building  a  superstructure  of  the  common  aspirations  of  humanity 
on  the  fundamental  principles  of  democracy. 

There  will  never  be  a  better  opportunity  for  the  United  States 
to  inaugurate  such  a  constructive  plan  of  international  friendship 
and  world  organization  than  the  inevitable  hour  when  European 
militarism  has  become  exhausted  by  its  own  destructive  efforts. 
If,  at  that  time,  our  army  and  navy  should  still  be  small  enough 
to  keep  other  nations  from  suspecting  our  motives,  the  United 
States  will  be  in  a  position  to  lead  at  least  the  democratic  nations 
in  the  formation  of  a  league  of  nations  to  enforce  peace  throughout 
the  world.  As  Jesus  seized  upon  the  actual  conditions  of  his  time 
as  a  basis  for  his  teaching,  so  should  the  American  people  take 
advantage  of  the  opportunities  the  present  crisis  in  world  politics 
has  placed  before  them.  As  a  preliminary  step  toward  the  organ- 
ization of  an  international  league,  is  it  reasonable  to  suggest  that 
the  United  States  seriously  consider  joining  England  and  France 
in  a  guarantee  of  Belgian  neutrality  and  asking  in  return  a  pledge 
by  those  powers  for  the  safety  of  Pan- America?^"  A  definite  con- 
tract of  mutual  protection  entered  into  by  the  five  self-governing 
States,  and  possibly  several  of  the  stronger  South  American  Re- 
publics, would  be  a  step  toward  world  organization  that  no  auto- 
crat or  combination  of  autocrats  could  afford  to  ignore. 

When  the  world  is  fast  approaching  a  longed-for  opportunity 

52.  The  New  Republic,  March  11. 
1916:  Editorial:  Belgium  and  the 
Western    World. 


28  Essays  in  Applied  Christianity 

to  take  a  decisive,  forward  stej)  in  the  cause  of  humanity,  it  is  not 
the  time  for  America  to  become  self-centered  or  ultra-nationalistic. 
With  all  confidence  in  the  good  intentions  of  the  patriots  who  have 
voiced  the  cry,  "America  first!"  we  must  yet  call  attention  to  the 
fact  that  they  are  but  echoing  the  spirit  that  led  European  nations 
in  the  military  rivalry  that  has  culminated  in  the  present  mutual- 
ly-suicidal conflict — and  that  Jesus  would  cry  rather,  "America 
first  in  world  service!"  Just  as  the  thirteen  colonies  developed  by 
means  of  a  preliminary  federation  to  a  peaceful,  democratic  union, 
it  is  possible,  and  eminently  reasonable  and  practical,  for  the 
nations  of  the  world  to  evolve  through  a  federation  of  nations, 
whose  chief  purpose  is  to  enforce  peace,  to  an  ultimate  world  state 
where  the  principles  of  democracy  will  be  world-wide  in  their 
application,  insuring  to  all  men  the  right  of  local  self-government 
and  providing  a  means  of  peaceful,  judicial  adjustment  of  all 
inter-group  differences,  regardless  of  the  size  or  national  character 
of  the  groups. 


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